Us
by Rianna Potter
Summary: When the Fat Lady and Violet stir up some trouble between the trio and Ginny, things get tense between Ron and Hermione on the train ride home for the Christmas holidays. One shot.


**Author's Notes:** The original Fat Lady and Violet gossip plot bunny was given to me by Joy (Gwendolyn James) in_ November _– yeah, sorry 'bout that, Joy – and was combined with a challenge from the 30minutesfic LiveJournal community. And Joy beta read this for me too, so huggles for her.

**Disclaimer:** Character descriptions of the Fat Lady and Violet are from the HP Lexicon, much huggles for them.

"Vi, where'd you get this chocolate? It's _exquisite_," the Fat Lady called out to her friend, who was roaming through the portraits just down the corridor. No one else was nearby because of the Quidditch game taking place, Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw.

"One of the younger Gryffindor girls fetched it from the kitchen for me last night when she came back from Quidditch practice. Ginny Weasley, was it?" she pondered to herself, her mouth still sticky with chocolate.

"This doesn't have any sedatives in it, does it? Remember _last time_?" the Fat Lady asked, then shoved it into her mouth. She mumbled some unrecognizable words, for her mouth would not operate properly.

"No, it doesn't," Violet sighed, and then looked up as footsteps shook the corridors. "Oh, look, the match is over!" The Fat Lady turned to see many Gryffindors shoving up the staircases to get to their own common rooms. "And look what we have here…" she muttered slyly as four certain Gryffindors passed by her portrait.

"Ron, that wasn't funny!" Hermione scolded. "You could have saved three other shots to make up for it if you hadn't dangled from your broomstick like some sort of chimp." She scowled at him as if to emphasize her point. "You could have killed yourself if you had fallen off, and even have injured others on your way down! You're supposed to be setting an example for everyone else. Apparently you don't understand what it means to be a prefect, or even a sixth year. You're never going to grow up, are you?" She said this in disappointment, not out of anger, and then fell back a step to walk beside Ginny. Ron didn't respond, just gave her an annoyed, twisted look and turned his face in the other direction. Hermione huffed.

"Harry, are you coming to stay with us at the Burrow for Christmas?" Ginny asked in attempt to change the subject, even though she knew the answer already.

"I think so," he answered, repeating the same response for the eighth time. "I guess I am if you all are, because I don't think your mum would like it if I was at Hogwarts alone for the holidays. Dumbledore wouldn't either, I'm betting." It was going to be a long Christmas.

"Ron, where'd you put all our books?" Harry dug through his trunk searching for his spell books.

"I dunno. Where'd you use them last time? Maybe Hermione has them." He shrugged and dropped a large load of robes into his trunk, then pushed it down to snap shut. It didn't work. "Can you help me with this?"

Harry held it down as Ron slid the latch through the hook, and then Ron fell back onto his four-poster bed. "Why don't you go ask her for them?"

"Hermione, Ron can't find our books. D'you know where any of them are?" Harry called from the staircase down into the common room. Hermione and Ginny were successfully packed and had all their trunks and animal cages stacked neatly in a corner.

"No. And it's his own fault for losing them." She didn't look up from the back of the armchair where she was still piling belongings. "He really needs to be more responsible."

"He didn't lose them, we just can't find them!" Harry threw up his arms in amazement, then stepped back into the boys' dormitory area.

"Did you _see_ those two after the match yesterday? It never gets old, watching them go at it over _every little thing_."

"No, it doesn't, really," the Fat Lady agreed, still bloated from yesterday's cocoa extravaganza. "Do you think it's a sign?"

"A sign?" Violet pondered this with unsuccessful results. "What do you mean by 'a sign?'"

"A sign, you know, a _sign_." She jerked her head slightly to the left, where an old married couple sat half-asleep on a bench in a portrait, snoring loudly.

"What? Ron and Hermione snore?" Vi chuckled at this.

"No! Do you see those two right there?" Violet nodded. "What do they do all day? Bicker!"

"Ohhh," Violet nodded knowingly. "I've got it now." A less than angelic smile spread across her face, and the Fat Lady's eyes danced. She leaned over and whispered something in Vi's ear that made her snigger.

"Come on, Ron." Ginny waited impatiently at the foot of the boys' staircase with her trunk and Pig's cage beside her. "Don't tell me your trunk snapped open again."

"No, it didn't, I'm just having difficulties with the-" he stopped short. "Yes, my trunk snapped open again. Would you like to be of assistance, kind sister?" he asked mockingly, then nearly pulled Ginny over the railing and up the stairs. "Sit on it."

She plopped down not so gracefully on Ron's trunk, which snapped shut in an instant. "Come _on_, Harry and Hermione are waiting downstairs." She picked up one end of his trunk and they made their way down the stairs, into the common room, and out the portrait hole.

"Ginny, can we stop? This thing gets heavier by the minute," Ron panted and dropped his end of the trunk on the floor outside of the portrait hole.

"Sure. I have to get my stuff anyway. Hopefully you can handle your own trunk next time," she said, stepping back in front of the portrait hole and looking up at the Fat Lady – but she wasn't there.

"Where is she?" Ginny wondered aloud. Ron pointed up at her friend Violet's portrait, where the two of them were having tea.

"Excuse me… Fat Lady? Can you let me into the common room?" Ginny looked over at her hopefully. But the Fat Lady wasn't paying attention to Ginny. She had her eyes on Hermione, who was standing behind Ron holding Crookshanks in her arms.

"What?" Hermione accused, then shifted the cat to the other side. "Aren't you going to let Ginny in? Her trunk is still in the common room."

Violet laughed more loudly than she should have, and many of the students on the staircases turned to the portrait. The Fat Lady shifted her gaze to Ron, who was sitting on his trunk. "Well, are you going to let her in or not?" Ron asked.

And at that moment, the portrait door swung open, and out stepped Harry lugging two trunks, both his and Ginny's.

"What took you so long?" Ginny asked, hiding a smile as Harry handed over the trunk.

"What took _them_ so long?" Harry pointed to Ron and Hermione.

"Huh?" Ron and Hermione said at the same time, bewildered.

"It's a shame we didn't get to follow through on that plan. But I guess they're lucky, aren't they?" Ginny wondered aloud as if Ron and Hermione still weren't there.

"_Extremely_ lucky," Harry agreed as he followed Ginny down the corridor, leaving Ron and Hermione gazing after them in amazement.

"How's it going?" Ginny asked Ron and Hermione pleasantly as they shoved themselves into the compartment on the Hogwarts Express. Ron glared at her and Hermione said nothing. They took seats opposite each other, Ron next to Harry and Hermione next to Ginny.

"Is anyone else going to sit in here?" Ron asked, wondering if he could stretch out or not.

"Don't think so," Harry answered. "I think we're leaving any minute now, so probably not."

"Want to play cards, Harry?" Ginny offered, holding up a stack of Muggle playing cards and dropping down onto the floor. Harry sat across from her, leaving Ron and Hermione trying to catch each other's eye.

"D'you want to bet on something?" Harry asked, leaning on his elbows and waiting for the cards to be dealt.

"Sure, what do you want to bet on? Christmas gifts? Food? Chores at the Burrow? _Cats and rats_?" Ginny added the last option in slyly, making Ron nearly topple over from his resting position onto the floor.

"Cats and rats? Where'd that come from?" he asked her, picking himself up. She shrugged and continued playing the card game.

"Give it up Ginny, I beat you."

"Best eight out of twelve," she offered.

Crookshanks had been sitting contentedly on Hermione's lap up until now, but when Ron wasn't looking he leaped over and dug his claws into Ron's knees. He yelped off and on as Crookshanks repeated this, but Harry and Ginny paid him no attention as they lengthened the bet. Hermione glared at Ron, and he glared back, and Crookshanks growled.

"This is war," Ginny said several minutes later after no communication during the game.

"Of course it's war. That's what the game's called – War."

"No really, this is war," and he followed her eyes from Hermione to Ron and back to Hermione. Harry smirked and went on playing the game.

During the last round of the card game, the compartment door slid open and Neville stepped in. "Does anyone know what time it is? No one in my compartment has a watch, and we're trying to figure out how much longer it'll take to get to King's Cross."

Hermione glanced at her wristwatch, and read the time aloud to Neville. "Oh great, another three hours. Thanks," Neville said, then slid the door shut again, returning to his own compartment.

"Three hours? Really?" Ron looked up, just taking in what time she had read.

"I said four thirty, didn't I?" Hermione snapped.

"What's your problem today, Hermione? No, what's been your problem since term started? Ever since we got on the train in September you've been treating me like I don't even deserve to be alive, like-" Ron was cut off. Ginny leaned over and whispered something in Harry's ear, and they both laughed.

"You just don't get it, do you?" Hermione's eyes narrowed.

"Apparently not," Harry added. Ginny sat up and put the cards in one pile, outlining the shape of a Christmas tree in front of Harry's knees.

"Because the first thing I said to you was 'hi' and you shot back at me like I had asked you where you'd been all summer and-"

"The Fat Lady was right; they _do_ bicker a lot, don't they?" Ginny asked Harry, as if they were the audience and Ron and Hermione were the show.

Both snapped their heads to face them and asked the same question, "What?"

"What's your point?" Ron asked defensively.

"Just a fact," Harry shrugged.

Ron and Hermione were still looking at them like they should be institutionalized. "What, do you want us to leave or something?" Harry asked. No response. "Fine then, we will. Come on, Ginny." And with that, they picked up their cards, Ginny threw her bag over her shoulder, and they exited the compartment

"What was that all about?" Ron asked.

"You don't have to act like you don't know, Ron," Hermione said quietly, barely looking at him as she stroked Crookshanks's fur.

"What do you mean 'act like I don't know'? I don't know anything to begin with anyway, or at least that's what you think," he shot back at her.

"I never said that, Ron."

"But that's what you're thinking."

"No," she said quietly, "no, that's not what I think."

"Then tell me, Hermione, what do you think?" Ron asked irritably. She looked away and continued stroking Crookshanks.

"I actually thought…" she shook her head and did not continue. Crookshanks moaned and jumped off her lap, settling himself on the floor between them. "You see Crookshanks right there?" Ron nodded awkwardly, not following what she was getting at. "He's sitting in between us. There's something dividing us."

"And you want to know what it is?" Ron suggested, still not understanding.

"I already know what it is, but do you?" she asked calmly, as if she were expecting Ron to make an outburst, but he didn't. "You know the Fat Lady and Violet planned that, right?"

"It was sort of obvious, wasn't it?"

"Like many other things, perhaps?"

"Hermione, why are you doing this to me? Why can't you just tell me what you're getting at?" he moaned.

"Harry, move!" Ginny whispered rather loudly, pushing Harry over and into the nearest compartment. "One of the prefects was out and we're not supposed to be sitting in the middle of the hall when the train is moving." She stuck her tongue out.

"They're so slow," he commented.

"Shall we intervene?" Ginny suggested. Harry's face brightened and they checked the corridor, then snuck over to their previous compartment. Pressing their ears to the crack in the door, but still out of sight, they listened.

"Why can't you just tell me what you're getting at?" They made out Ron's voice and could tell he was nearly begging.

"I didn't think we'd have to act this quickly. You go ahead first," Ginny grinned brightly. He slid the door open, still glaring at Ginny.

Harry stuck his head around the side of the entrance and spoke four words - "not a last resort."Ron's fact contorted in an odd yet extremely funny way, followed by a dramatic pause, swayed a bit, and then collapse to one side. Harry turned back to Ginny. "I knew he'd get it eventually." They both grinned and slid down next to the compartment door, which was still cracked open a few inches.

"Are – are you serious?" he choked out. Hermione smiled weakly and nodded, still stroking Crookshanks.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

"What's there to be sorry about?"

"For assuming you felt the same way."

"Do you want me to collapse again? Because if you do, just go ahead and say that last line again. What do you mean _assuming_?" he burst.

"I thought you did."

"How are you so calm about this?" he threw up his arms in disbelief.

"Because I realized that after waiting for two years there's really nothing I can lose. I actually thought you'd get it after the first year, but obviously not. I was only kidding myself," she laughed nervously.

_There's something not right with her today…_ Ron thought to himself. She wasn't acting like the girl he was used to. "Is this why you've been so rude to me since term started? You could have gotten the point across in better ways, you know."

"Do you really think anything else would have worked? Look at us and think about it," she pointed out.

"Us?" he paused, not answering her question. "Did you just say-?"

"Yes Ron, us." And that was all the answer he needed.

**Author's Notes:** IT'S DONE, IT'S DONE! You have no idea how long it took me to write that. I doubt I would have even gotten through it without Joy's help. She rocks my tree socks. Some more huggles for you, Joy. All reviewers get huggles too.

Now I can eat my motivational tic tacs.


End file.
